2014年5月25日托福阅读考试解析.docVIP

2014年5月25日托福阅读考试解析 南京环球北美考试院 考试日期：2014年5月25日 Reading Passage 1 Title: 人类活动和动物的灭绝 Question types: 文章内容回顾： 本文论述动物灭绝的原因，一些人认为是overhunting过度捕猎，举例讲到在人类出现之前北美有很多大型动物，但是人类出现之后，很多大型动物都灭绝了，主要原因是人类过度捕猎，接着说，climate?change也是一个原因，大型动物灭绝了，但是rodent没有灭绝。?最后讲在人类出现以后很短的时间里，动物数量急剧下降，虽然这个事实被捕鱼大丰收所掩盖。一个明显的证据是一种特殊的鱼到了食物链底端。 难度分析： 这是一篇因果型文章，这种文章结构在托福中非常常见，托福考试中，生态话题是常见的，此类话题有大量词汇需要同学们在平时积累，建议学生在备考中积累学科词汇，提升英语实力，以不变应万变。 相似的话题可以参考TPO中的文章mass extinction,文章的理解重点是要把握好解释灭绝的原因，以及相应所举的例子。 同时有选择的看一些相关的纪录片也不失为一种拓展词汇和知识面的有效途径。 相关背景内容： Based on archaeological evidence from an excavation at Caverna da Pedra Pintada, human inhabitants first settled in the Amazon region at least 11,200 years ago.[14] Subsequent development led to late-prehistoric settlements along the periphery of the forest by AD 1250, which induced alterations in the forest cover.[15] For a long time, it was thought that the Amazon rainforest was only ever sparsely populated, as it was impossible to sustain a large population through agriculture given the poor soil. Archeologist Betty Meggers was a prominent proponent of this idea, as described in her book Amazonia: Man and Culture in a Counterfeit Paradise. She claimed that a population density of 0.2 inhabitants per square kilometre (0.52 /sq mi) is the maximum that can be sustained in the rain forest through hunting, with agriculture needed to host a larger population.[16] However, recent anthropological findings have suggested that the region was actually densely populated. Some 5 million people may have lived in the Amazon region in AD 1500, divided between dense coastal settlements, such as that at Marajó, and inland dwellers.[17] By 1900 the population had fallen to 1 million and by the early 1980s it was less than 200,000.[17] The first European to travel the length of the Amazon River was Francisco de Orellana in 1542.[18] The BBCs Unnatural Histories presents evidence that Orellana, rather than exaggerating his claims as previously thought, was correct in his observ